History original name for the SBC

I do know that the SBF was originally called the "Challenger V8" pretty obvious what it was supposed to be challenging!

 

My buddy Slick (hardcore Ford guy) said that they called them scrachers when he was younger.He still calls them that.

 

Right 1917 air cooled 288 cu in. they only made a few of them cause people did not buy them

 

More of them blown up than any other motor too!

 

1917. And, no, it was not aircooled. My dad had one of these engines in his auto and aircraft hangar collection along with a LOT of other engines. 1948-1950.

 

Zora Arkus Duntov designed the chevy V8. He took it to Ford, and Ford wouldn't buy it. They said it was too Mickey Mouse. GM bought the design, hired Duntov as their engineer and gave it the name "Mouse Motor."

 

So far Beep is right on this one. The flatheads were replaced by the early Caddys & Olds. The 265 didn't show up till 55'. Kudoes to you Beep!.... you been reading your Motorosity History books!


After I hit my 1000th post, I think I'll host a big party & invite some 1000 HAMBERS to attend!

 

Flatheads were running in specific classes G/G for example into the late 60's. This class was for inlines and flatheads. But who cares................the flatty's a d W-motors are back.............different is king again................

 

Thank you Mr. Duntov, thank you for the Corvette, the Chevy V8 and one hell of a cam grind.

 

Uh...I wouldn't use anything in that quote in my homework, if I were you...

 

My uncle started running small blocks in a Logghe chassis in the late '50s, and said he ran "the big block Chevy" in... I forget what year, but it was a 409, so he still refers to the '09 as a big block.

As for the "W" designation, I have this from the 1963 Chevrolet Performance Handbook by Hot Rod Magazine's technical Library: "the 348-cubic-inch displacement engine was the third of a set of experimental models designed and built by Engineering. The "X" and "Y" designations were 300-cubic-inch versions of the 265. The "X" bore was increased to four inches while retaining the three-inch stroke, while "Y" was a 3 13/16 by 3.3 incher. Neither proved to be the answer and it appeared that the 283, with its 3.87-inch bore and three-inch stroke was about the happiest combination for production at that time.
But, to increase displacement another 50 cubic inches without building an outsized block, and to be able to go up from that another 60 or more, was a problem. It is no trick to build a big engine. But it certainly is an accomplishment to make one that can displace well over 50% more than the 265 and have it only 1 1/2-inches longer, 2 1/2-inches wider and 7/8-inch lower...and that is the 348-409 exactly."

So "W" is an Engineering designation, and has nothing to do with the valve covers. Which are actually an "M" if you're looking at them anyway. They they probably could be considered a "W" if you're doing a handstand on your fender.

The book I cited came out with the 265 and 283 were the standard bearers of Chevy performance, and the 327 was a new engine. I haven't read the whole thing in a while, but skimming the first couple chapters in it, I couldn't find any reference to Small Block (or Big block either, for that matter). Just listed it by displacement.

Factory dealership literature would be a great source... my guess would be when they started putting the hot 327 in the Nova, is when they got the Small Block/Big Block designations, or when the 396 came out.

-Brad

 

I don't remember hearing "small block" until the rat came out.
Until then they were 283s or 327s or whatever.
409s were 409s. 348s were 348s.
An Olds was referd to as an Olds, or a J2, a Caddy was just a Caddy. Fords were defined by thier size, 390, 312, 292. You just kind of knew that the 272,292,312 were Y blocks. The 271-289 had been out for awhile before I ever heard of it as an SBF.
When the big block came out, Someone called it a rat. Next thing you know, the SBC is a mouse because it's like a small rat.
By the time we started playing with engines, flatheads were something that purists played with, they ran hot, and horsepower was expensive.
At least that's how it was in Dallas in the '60's.

 

I thought Ed Cole and his design team were responible for the 265 Chevy engine. Duntov I think is credited for improving its performance a bit later on
I also have heard the Mouse deal came from "Mighty Mouse Cartoon" dont know if thats true or not though

 

Chevy V 8...maybe?

or maybe


S. uper
B. adass
C. hevy

 

No water cooled

 

The Belly Button?

 

Today they are called the kragen motor..or the resurrection of the flathed

 

Yes it was an Ed cole design and it first came out in 1954........rich

 

G.O.A.T (Greatest of all time) : )
The small block has WON every concievable racing title for pennies on the dollar to any other V8 configuration. Drags, NASCAR, sprints, grass roots racing, derbies, tractor pulls, hill climbs, mud bogs, boats.....etc. ALL the other motors are cool, but the small block is the lil' hoss that has done it all and been chased after for 50-odd years and counting!

 

The big block was originally called the mystery motor when it first appeared in a Nascar race. It was super secret and I think it was in 1964. Hot Rod Magazine called it a rat motor when it was introduced, don't recall why. If the big block is a rat motor, then the small block must be a mouse motor. The 348's and later 409's were called truck motors because that is what it was designed for.
Joe

 

The Mystery Motor is not at all the Mark IV big block Chevy everyone knows. Sort of an interim design between the 409 and the Mark IV 396 which became known as the Rat motor.

Tim D.

 

I'm pretty sure the big block was originally called porcupine because of the valve angles, then it morphed into rat. Then since a big Chevy was a rat the small Chevy was a mouse. All of this would have started around 1964/1965. And the folks that hung names on engines were probably the magazine writers (kinda like TV today). So it would't be too hard to check the old magazines and see when and where the names started.

I've got a "How To" book that Peterson Publishing put out about 348/409 in 1962. No reference to big block in it anywhere.

As far as Belly Button, I think that's what they were calling flatheads when the SBC arrived on the scene. (G)
Larry T

 

I just love these threads about the Chevy V8, especially when some of the posted information is actually true. The rest is pure intertainment.

Frank

 

That is interesting, was that in an early Ford press release or something?

All of the early speed equipment listings, part castings and references to the engine note it as the Fairlane series V8, including Fords own ads for adding the "Cobra treatment" to your new Ford.

With the Chevy being the mouse motor, my understanding is that it came about in relation to common reference to the Hemi aswell any large sized power plant as being an elephant sized motor ( I know tell that to a Mopar guy and all they can think of is "new" Hemi's) , in that by comparison to the little Chevy it was called the mouse, not only for its size but also under the thought with the Chevy's power potential the elephants should be scared of the new mice.

With Rats it seems to be just progressing the nick name, though it has been printed quite a few times that the term was coined by Jim Shores of Shores and Hess and was painted on Skipper's Critter. Then again it was painted on the Nunez and Dillon 41 Willy's pickup too in the same era...

With W's people called them all sorts of things, I just call them heavy and expensive.

 

Is their any other motor

 

The way I remember it, among car guys they were referred to by displacement until the 396/427 had been in production for some time. I also don't remember the "W" description being used until well after all the rat, mouse, big, small, and whatever became commonplace.

Actually, for the most part this also applies to the other makes. If you were a hip car guy and someone mentioned 283, 312, 322, 324, 331, 348, or whatever, you were supposed to know what was being spoken of.

I have been told (this is a bit before my day) that the flathead was referred to as a "V8" until some time after the Y block was in production, and the Y block was one of the first to be commonly referred to by a manufactures name, in this case mainly because of the confusion from the first Y block being the same displacement as the flathead.

I'm sure you can find some quotes of various names being used back in the day, but most often the the comment was derogatory.

 

I do know it was called the Fairlane V8 also admittedly maybe the 221 and 260 were called that first. As with marketing I'm sure it changed as the company saw fit. It could be that the challenger moniker came about from the Challenger fastback Falcon prototype out around then. Then the Cobra came around and the rest as they say...

I look at these names as mere marketing. Just like Torqueflite,Cruisomatic,Turbohydromatic and Dynaflow were applied to transmissions

 

"Rusty" has it right.......... The ad copy from the day calls them the "Turbo-Fire V-8"